Wallet with secret compartment



July 15, 1947. KNEE 2,423,939

WALLET WITH SECRET COMPARTMEN'I' Filed Dec. 12, 1945 I 5 25,5 I I.lh l hg l l l hl l Patented July 15, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2- Claims.

This invention relates to wallets or bill folds.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of my present invention, the wallet is provided with means which divides the main pocket of the wallet into a plurality of compartments and which comprises a pair of walls which are joined to each other only at their upper edges so that one of said walls of said dividing means can be retracted individually from the wallet while the other of said walls may remain in the wallet, whereby to provide access through the top opening of the wallet to permit the removal or insertion of bills or other papers. Also one of said walls of the dividing means is preferably provided with retaining and separating means for releasably retaining such contents as bills or papers in the dividing means and for separating such bills or papers from other bills or papers positioned in the pocket compartment between the individually retractable wall and the adjacent pocket defining part of the Wallet. Further, the dividing means as a whole is so constructed and arranged in the wallet that it can be retracted as a unit from the wallet through the pocket opening.

Also, in accordance with the preferred form of the present invention, the dividing means is secured at an upper corner portion thereof to an adjacent upper corner portion of the wallet in such manner as to permit the retraction of either the entire dividing means or only one of said walls of said dividing means, and in addition, a slide fastener is provided for releasably closing one of the wallet compartments at said top pocket opening. The provision in the dividing or compartment forming means of walls joined to eachother only at their upper edges enables one of said walls of the dividing means to be retracted as described above through the pocket opening without opening or otherwise operating the slide fastener.

The provision of a wallet or bill fold of the above indicated construction and having the above described advantages and features of utility constitutes objects of the present invention. Another object is to provide an improved securement of the dividing means to the wallet. A further object is to provide for releasably closing one of the compartments by means of a slide-fastener having complementary stringers one of which is attached to the dividing means in such a way as not to interfere with the insertion of paper money or other papers in the dividing means between two walls thereof. A yet further object is generally to provide a wallet of improved construction for holding paper money or other papers in separated or divided relation in separate compartments in a single pocket.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be fully understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which are to be considered as illustrative of the invention but not in limitation thereof.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a View, in side elevation, of a wallet embodying the present invention, showing the dividing means partly retracted from the wallet;

Fig. 2 is a view, in side elevation of the dividing means;

Fig. 3 is a view, in side elevation, of a part of the Wallet, showing the dividing means within the wallet and slide fastener partly closed;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fi 3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing one of the walls of the dividing means retracted while the companion Wall of said dividing means remains in the wallet;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the wallet.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the wallet [0 embodying the present invention comprises the main wallet parts I2 and I4 which are coextensive in length and which define the main pocket of the Wallet having a top opening, as

in the usual wallet. Said parts may be formed of leather, fabric or any other suitable material. Parts l2 and I4 may be formed in one piece, folded as shown, and stitched together at their opposite ends as indicated at [6, said parts [2 and I4 being thus joined at said opposite ends I6 and at their bottom folded edge I8. The back part [2 is preferably wider than the front part [4 so that the upper edge 20 of part M is below the upper edge 22 of part 12.

In accordance with the present invention the pocket of the wallet is divided into compartments A and B by the dividing means 24. Said dividin means comprises two walls 26 and 28 joined to each other only at their upper edges,

for example by one or more lines of stitching 30. Said walls 26 and 28 may be formed ofleather,

fabric or any other suitable sheet material, and

of material folded to provide the two walls joined to each other at their upper edges. It will be noted that the two walls 26 and 28 are relatively movable and are free from attachment to each other at their opposite end and at their lower edges.

The dividing means 24 is secured to the wallet by an upper corner portion or tab 3| which as here shown is integral with wall 26 and which is secured to the main wallet part 12 by stitching 32 and stitching 34, the last mentioned stitching being a continuation of the stitching [6 of parts I2 and I4 at one end of the wallet. It will be noted that the upper edge portion of tab 3| is overlapped by the longitudinally extending infolded edge portion 36 at the upper edge of the main wallet-part I2.

A slide fastener S is provided for releasably closing the top of the pocket at one of the compartments thereof, here shown as the compartment A (Fig. 4). The complementary slide fastener stringers 38 and 46 of the slide fastener S are respectively secured to the upper edge of wallet part I2 and to the dividing means 24, preferably by stitching as shown. The slider for operating the conventional interlocking elements 42 on said stringers is indicated at 44. It will be noted that the slide fastener stringer 4 is positioned at the outer side of the wall 26 of the dividing means 24 so as not to project into the space between walls 26 and 28 of said dividing means, thus enablin bills or other papers which may be placed between said walls to lie edgewise between said two walls at or close to the joined upper edges thereof. As illustrated in Fig. 4 stringer 4 may be secured to the dividing means 24 by one or more lines of stitching 3 which secure said two walls together at their upper edges as hereinbefore described.

One of the features of the present invention is the provision in the dividing means 24 of the retaining and separating means 46 which as here shown is in the form of a strap secured only at its opposite ends in said dividing means. More particularly, strap 46 is stitched or otherwise secured only at its opposite ends to the wall 26 as indicated at 48. Said retaining and separating means 46 is thus positioned between the upper and lower edges of the dividing means between the walls 26 and 28 of the latter. Wall 28 of the dividing means 24 may be retracted from the wallet pocket or compartment B of said pocket while the other wall 26 of said dividing means remains in the wallet pocket, so that access may be obtained to the papers or other contents previously placed within the dividing means between the walls 26 and 28 or more specifically between the confronting surfaces of wall 26 and strap 46. Fig. 5 shows wall 28 retracted from the compartment B of the wallet pocket, while wall 26 of the dividing means is in normal position within the pocket of the wallet so as to continue to act as a partition between compartments A and B notwithstanding the retraction of wall 28 of the dividing means from the wallet pocket. Further, it will be noted that the strap 46 constitutes a. separator or divider between the bills or papers in compartment B and the bills and papers previously placed in the dividing means between wall 26 and wall 28 so that the retraction of wall 28 does not disturb the separation of the contents within the dividing means from other bills or papers in compartment B of the wallet pocket. It will be noted also that the dividing means 24 constitutes a secret compartment for the wallet since by reason of the joining of the upper edges of walls 26 and 28 concealment is effected of such papers or bills which may be placed within the dividing means.

When the slide fastener is completely open, as illustrated in Fig. 1 the dividing means 24 may be completely retracted or removed from the pocket wallet, while remaining attached thereto by the upper corner portion or tab 3!. When removed from the wallet, said dividing means may be inverted to facilitate access to such bills or other papers which may have been placed within the dividing means between walls 26 and 28 thereof, said papers being rel-easably retained in said position by strap 46 which holds said papers or bills releasably against wall 26, or to facilitate the insertion of papers between wall 28 and strap 46. The securing means or tab 3! is preferably formed of limp leather, fabric or similar material, so that the dividing means 24 can be turned to any desired position once said dividing means is retracted from said wallet pocket. Thus, said dividing means, when fully retracted from the wallet, can be disposed, if desired, in substantially the same plane as that of walls l2 and I4, with the dividing means 24 extending laterally of the wallet in a position in which the free longitudinal edges 56 and 52 of walls 26 and 28, respectively, are remote from both of the longitudinal edges 18 and 22 of pocket parts l2 and I4, or the dividing means 24 can be placed in superposed relation on wall l4, externally thereof, with the free edges 50 and 52 of the dividing means adjacent edge [8 of the wallet.

As illustrated in Fig. 1 the wallet Ill is provided with additional compartments or card receiving parts indicated at 54 and 56 terminating in spaced relation to the central foldin line of the wallet. As shown in Fig. l a portion 58 of wall part I4 is separated from the adjacent edge portion of part l2 to facilitate folding of the wallet, in a manner well understood in the art to which the present invention relates, although other folding construction can be used. It will be understood, however, that the wallet .provided with the features of the present invention need not be a folding wallet but can be a wallet of the nonfolding or flat type.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention it will be understood that the latter may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described and that various changes in the details of construction and in the arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the underlying idea or principles of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a wallet having a pocket provided with an opening, means removably positioned in said pocket and dividing the latter into two compartments, said dividing means comprising two walls joined to each other only at their upper edges whereby one of said walls is retractable from one of said compartments while the other of said walls remains positioned in said pocket and forms a partition wall in said pocket between said two compartments, and means positioned between said two walls and extending longitudinally thereof for retaining bills or papers placed in said dividing means and operative, when said one of said walls is retracted, to separate said-bills or papers from other bills or papers placed in said one of said compartments, said retaining and separating mean comprising a strap attached only at its opposite ends to said other wall of said dividing means, and means releasably fastening the longitudinal upper edge of said partition wall to an upper edge of the wallet for closing the pocket opening to the other of said compartments, said first mentioned wall of said dividin means being retractable from said one of the compartments while said opening to said other compartment is closed by said fastening means.

2. In a wallet comprising front and back parts defining a pocket having a top opening, means in said pocket dividing said pocket into a plurality of compartments and comprisin two relatively movable walls joined at their upper edges but free of each other at their lower edges and at their opposite ends, means at an upper end portion of said dividing means for securin said dividing means to an upper corner portion of one of said parts of the wallet, and separator and retaining means between said two Walls attached at its opposite ends to one of said walls in position below the upper edges of said two walls, said separator means extending longitudinally of said walls and having its upper and lower edges free of attachment to said one of the walls, and a slide fastener having its complementary stringers attached, respectively, to the upper edge of one of said pocket-defining parts and to the upper edge of said dividing means for releasably closing REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,471,484 Humphreys Oct. 23, 1923 1,580,346 Sutter Apr. 13, 1926 2,187,375 Florin Jan. 16, 1940 2,266,128 Stanley Dec. 16, 1941 2,271,787 Wege Feb, 3, 1942 2,306,001 Struhl Dec, 22, 1942 

